Multiplatform Breakthroughs in Regional Publishing

Profiles of regional publishers bridging the gap between print and digital.

City and regional magazines have, in general, historically been slower to adopt the more cutting-edge digital strategies that their consumer and b-to-b media cousins have pursued. There are exceptions, but the gap between print and digital revenues is still much wider than in other parts of the industry. In FOLIO:’s 2012 City and Regional Magazine Survey, respondents indicated print advertising revenues accounted for 75 percent of the top line. Digital came in at 5 percent of revenues. By contrast, b-to-b and consumer publishers have moved that digital portion of revenues up to 20 percent, and that’s at the low end.

Nevertheless, the regional publishing market is unique in that print has remained a steady revenue stream, with local advertisers slower to adopt digital as a marketing source. Yet some regional publishers have identified this as a major opportunity and are finding significant success by investing in and developing a more robust digital strategy. Here, we profile two publishers that have made meaningful strides in their digital operations on both the content and business sides.

SourceMedia CEO Doug Manoni has been named chairman of ABM. Manoni, who most recently was vice chair of the business media association, will succeed outgoing chairman Neal Vitale. His term starts immediately.